Kaneland rallied back in a roller-coaster fourth quarter for a 23-21 win at La Salle-Peru, picking up win No. 6 behind a last-second field goal by Noah McKittrick.

“It felt amazing,” said McKittrick, who was nearly late for the game after playing soccer for the Knights earlier in the day in Rockford, a loss to Rockford East in a Class 2A Burlington Central Regional play-in game. “I’ve never felt better in my entire life. It was an insane moment.”

The Knights (6-2) took over with 29.8 seconds left after L-P took the lead on a touchdown run and two-point conversion by quarterback Marion Persich.

Kaneland QB Jalen Carter was sacked on first down, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Cavaliers stopped the clock and gave the Knights a first down.

Carter hit Brady Brown for a 10-yard gain, then spiked the ball.

On second-and-10 from the L-P 45, Carter connected with Brown for a 30-yard gain to set up McKittrick’s game-winner.

“We had a post called on the outside, but Brady Brown changed it into a go route because he was playing inside shade,” Carter said. “I was able to recognize it and hit him to set us up in field goal position.”

In the fourth quarter, the Knights got to the L-P 2, but were again thwarted when Griffin May pressured Carter, who fumbled. Mason Morscheiser scooped it up and ran it back for a score and a 13-0 lead with 11:41 left.

While it seemed L-P had all the momentum, the Knights started to swing it their way.

Kaneland needed just three plays to score with Carter running it in from 7 yards out to cut the deficit to 13-7.

The Knights then executed an onside kick and scored again, this time on a 9-yard run by Carter, on a drive twice extended by fourth down conversions, including one on a pass interference.

The Knights stopped L-P on fourth down - aided by a holding penalty on the Cavs’ first attempt - and Carter tossed a 43-yard TD to Evan Frieders on Kaneland’s first play for a 20-13 lead with 3 minutes left.

“We’re a good team,” Carter said. “We knew if we just played our ball, then everything would be fine. And that’s what we ended up doing. We just calmed down and played our ball.”

However, the Cavs managed to respond with a 35-yard run by Easton Moriarty helping set up Marion Persich’s 6-yard score and go-ahead conversion run, taking a 21-20 lead.

Genoa-Kingston 62, Rock Falls 6: At Rock Falls, the Cogs scored a pair of touchdowns before the Rockets had their first offensive possession.

The win moves the Cogs to 4-4 and 4-3 in Big Northern Conference play. A win against Dixon next week will secure the Cogs a playoff berth.

Owen Zaccard started the scoring with a 10-yard touchdown run less than 2 minutes into the game. After Brycen Wiegertz recovered a fumbled kickoff return, Jaiden Lee broke off the first of his four touchdowns with an 11-yard run.

Cody Cravata, Wiegertz, Mason McPeek, and Hunter Wendt also scored for the Cogs.

The Cogs (4-4) need a Week 9 win at Dixon to qualify for the postseason.

Morris 50, Sycamore 10: At Morris, Morris turned four Spartans turnovers into 28 points, posted a 50-10 running-clock victory, stayed undefeated and clinched the I-8 championship.

Trailing 3-0 early after a 23-yard field goal by Sycamore’s Joshua Puleo, Morris scored on all five of its first-half possessions.

Four of those scores came directly off a fumble recovery and three interceptions by Logan Conroy.

You can’t turn the ball over like we did and we just weren’t getting stops defensively,” Sycamore coach Joe Ryan said. “It was just an avalanche of things tonight. We just made too many critical errors at the wrong times and that’s what leads to a score you saw here tonight.

“Morris is a very good team, very good, and we knew our margin for error was going to be small. They took advantage of our mistakes and that is what really good teams do. They just beat us in all facets of the game tonight.”

The Spartans (4-4) end the regular season Friday at Cahokia (7-1), needing a win to qualify for the postseason.

Andrew 47, DeKalb 28: At DeKalb, the Thunderbolts had a couple of second-quarter stops to create separation and defeat the Barbs.

The Barbs (2-6, 1-4) led 14-13 after one quarter. But after the Andrew defense picked up its first stop, Anthony Lipski broke off a 61-yard run on the first play of the next drive.

The Thunderbolts (5-3, 3-2) came up with another stop, and again got a chunk play on the first play of the ensuing drive. This time, it was a 54-yard pass from Camden Maniatis to Lipski to bring the ball down to the 3. On third down, Maniatis punched it in from a yard out and a 27-14 lead.

“Those big, momentum-shifting plays, it’s tough to grab that back,” DeKalb coach Derek Schneeman said. “We came in on a three-game skid and you feel like things aren’t going your way. So to start rolling offense, then go three-and-out, punt it, and they come out with a big play, that makes it challenging, put us on our heels a little bit.”

The Barbs ran for 53 yards as a team. Cole Latimer was 20 for 27 for 318 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception. Davon Grant had eight catches for 158 yards a score. Jack Rosenow caught four passes for 54 yards and two touchdowns.

The only two stops the Barbs got came at the end of each half, and the Thunderbolts were in the Barbs’ territory each time.

“Guys are in position, we have to make plays,” Schneeman said of the Barbs’ defense, which allowed 501 yards of total offense, 403 on the ground. “Playing against the triple option comes down to, as everyone says, assignment football. So everyone’s got their job. So if one or two people don’t do their job, it leads to big plays.”

Polo 54, Hiawatha 14: At Kirkland, Aidan Cooper had a pair of touchdowns as the Hawks fell to 5-3 on the year.

Cooper had a long touchdown run early in the game, cutting the Marcos’ lead to 24-8. In the second half, he had a pass to Colby Wylde, bringing the score to its final.

- Kevin Chlum and Brian Hoxsey contributed to this report.